Dragonlord - Master of Tactics

[Sheikra]

DISCLAIMER: I have not capped this build yet, so part of it is still theoretical (cannot confirm endgame numbers yet). I am currently leveling in through heroics, hoping to cap within the week.

Hello reader! Dragonlord is the new hotness, but I have found a disappointly few number of build guides on the forums, and so with that in mind today I hope to:

1. Provide a basis for players who are like me; players who don't have every piece of raid gear, x3 set augments, all the mythic/reaper boost, etc.​

2. Hopefully receive feedback from the many players who are better than me, with how they might improve the build​

3. Create a build that is capable of meaningfully contributing on R6-10, LH/R1 raids, and can solo R1-R4~​

4. Create a build that is good for farming legendary quests (for named items, sxp, ingrediants, etc.)​

Therefore, I present my version of the Dragonlord:

Class: 20 Dragonlord
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Race: Half Orc
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Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
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Starting stats: 20 STR (all level-ups here), 14 CON, 12 INT, 12 CHA, (+8 tome all)
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Skills: Max Intimidate, UMD, Tumble, , Search, Swim (in that order)
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Feats:
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1: THF​

1: Thraxata's Instinct​

2: Power Attack​

3: Dodge​

4: Mobility​

6: WWA​

6: Improved THF​

8: Velah's Fury​

9: Imp Crit Slashing​

10: Stunning Blow​

12: Tactical Master​

12: Greater THF​

14: Tactical Combatant​

15: Weapon Focus Slashing​

16: The Truthful One's Might​

18: Greater Weapon Focus Slashing​

18: Tactical Supremacy​

20: Weapon Specialization Slashing​

21: Overwhelming Critical​

22: Perfect THF​

24: Greater Weapon Specialization Slashing​

25: Doublestrike​

27: Damage Reduction​

28: Harbinger of Chaos​

30: Superior Weapon Focus Slashing​

30: Scion of Arboria​

31: Crush Weakness​

Enhancements: (41 Ravager, 36 Dragonlord, 19 Half-Orc, 1 Harper)
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Half-Orc - Points spent: 19
Core1 Orcish Fury I
Core2 Orcish Strength I
Tier1 Orcish Weapon Training I
Core3 Orcish Fury II
Core4 Orcish Strength II
Tier2 Lock Bash
Tier2 Orcish Weapon Training II
Tier3 Orcish Weapon Training III
Tier3 Improved Power Attack - 2 Ranks
Tier4 Weapon Training IV
Tier4 Brutality
Tier4 Raging Crush
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Dragon Lord - Points spent: 36
Core1 Draconic Soul: Soul of the Blue Dragon
Tier1 Dragon's Protection I
Tier1 Battlefield Tactician I
Tier1 Martial Superiority: Dragon Lord: Martial Superiority: Strike Twice - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Field Skills - 1 Ranks
Tier2 Battlefield Tactician II
Tier2 Dragon's Protection II
Tier2 Action Boost: Action Boost: Haste - 3 Ranks
Core2 Draconic Arms
Tier3 Ability Score I: +1 Strength
Tier3 Might or Outburst: Might in Order - 3 Ranks
Core3 Reckless Devotion
Tier3 Battlefield Tactician III
Tier3 Dragon's Protection III
Tier3 Dragon's Roar
Core4 Conqueror's Command
Tier4 Dragon's Protection IV
Tier4 Battlefield Tactician IV
Tier4 Ability Score II: +1 Strength
Tier5 Conqueror - 2 Ranks
Tier5 Improved Dragon's Roar
Tier5 Tactical Commander
Tier5 Soul Scales
Core5 Dragon's Defense
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Ravager (Ftr) - Points spent: 41
Core1 Furious Rage
Tier1 Ritual Scarring - 2 Ranks
Tier1 Draconic Power Attack - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Extra Action Boost - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Do You Like Pain? - 3 Ranks
Core2 Pain Touch I
Tier2 Cruel Cut - 3 Ranks
Tier2 I Like Pain - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Ability I: +1 Strength
Tier3 Slaughter - 3 Ranks
Core3 Demoralizing Success
Tier3 Festering Wound - 3 Ranks
Core4 Pain Touch II
Tier4 Ability II: +1 Strength
Tier4 Laughter
Tier4 Dismember - 3 Ranks
Core5 Subsiding Fury
Core6 Visage of Terror
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Harper Agent - Points spent: 1
Core1 Agent of Good I
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Epic Destinies: (35 LD, 34 Fury)
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Legendary Dreadnought - Points spent: 35
Core1 Fearless
Tier1 Epic Tactics - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Dread Mantle
Tier1 Push Through The Line - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Combat Brute
Tier2 Esoteric Touch
Tier2 Extra Action Boost - 3 Ranks
Core2 Weaponmaster
Tier3 Strike Twice - 3 Ranks
Core3 Thick Skinned
Tier3 Epic Power & Precision - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Strike with Fear
Tier4 Untouchable
Core4 Unparalleled Accuracy
Tier4 Kick While They're Down - 3 Ranks
Tier5 Overpower: Lacerator
Tier5 Legendary Rally: Legendary Rally (Melee)
Tier5 Action Hero
Tier5 Sundering Swings
Tier5 Dusk Surge
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Fury of the Wild - Points spent: 34
Core1 Die Hard
Tier1 Strength or Swiftness: Adrenaline - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Savage Take Down - 3 Ranks
Core2 Die Harder
Tier2 Speed or Strength: Boulder's Might - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Primal Scream
Tier3 Fury Selector: Furious - 3 Ranks
Core3 Die Harderest
Tier3 Wild Weapons: Doublestrike - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Force Selector: Overwhelming Force - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Unquenchable Rage - 3 Ranks
Core4 Be the Whirlwind
Tier4 Top Dog
Tier4 Wilder Weapons: Wilder Weapons - Doublestrike - 3 Ranks
Tier4 The Voice of Fury
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Gear Layout (still figuring augments out):

3pc Devils Infernal Dance (light armor + champ helm + duelist cloak)
3pc Sora Kell Perfected Wrath (ring + ring + gloves)
5pc Vecna set (int goggles + insightful charisma bracers + blademark necklace + furious voyage + bladesworn belt)
Trinket: Legendary Battleworn Medal
Weapon: Attuned Bone Falchion (can be non-attuned, just slightly lower dmg, set is not important for this gear settup)

Filigrees: I have no clue yet, too poor to afford a prowess swap so probably 5 piece prowess, some raid strength filis, MP filigrees, DS, etc.

Some rationale behind the build:

• Half-orc is not mandatory, dragonborn is a good alternative if you don't have any racial points. The bonuses to strength, THF, and helpness dmg make this very very good for a THF strength build. For me, the most important thing in the tree is the lock bashing (I really want to be able to get through locks for sxp/IoD/card chests).
• Starting with 12 intelligence because similar to lock bash, it is very important to me that I have enough skill points to get my 4th tumble pip, cast scrolls with UMD, and find secret doors with search (swap items as needed).
• The gearing was the best way I could think to cover as many artifact bonuses as possible, assuming you don't have set augments (the 3-piece dino armor/helm/cloak settup may be better, but I only have runes for 1 dino item and I really want a nice sword...). Will want to augment anything not covered (sunder, trip, stunning, intimidate, festives, DS, MP, Globe, and all the nice named ones.
• Wanted decent boss dps (adrenaline) while also having CC options which help with mid R soloing/grouping (improved mass trip, dragon roar, visage, all make clumps of mobs helpless/dead)
• Healing in the form of 2nd wind as well as fotw primal scream
• I did not have enough points to go into a 3rd tree because I wanted to go t5 LD t4 fotw. Maybe this is a huge blunder. I cannot see any points that I want to give up for another tree... taking imp trip + making imp trip mass helpess from core 4 and t5 just sounds too fun

Questions that I do not have answers for:

• Is it better to focus strength + strength trance? Or strength + rage + charisma trance? Charisma is already being boosted as much as possible due to intimidate, but until I hit 32, my brain is too small to figure out which one is better.
• Is there a better gear configuration that does not use the set augments? Have enough runes to get basically 1 piece from every raid, but not x3 for auggys
• Is it better to unlock 10th sentience spot, or levelup a swap sxp item? (prowess for this, but also sacntificed fervor, etc. for other builds)

I am confident there are many players who will look at this, think "nothing new here" and move on. But if there is an audience of mediocre players who are looking from builds from other mediocre players, I hope this helps! Thanks

 

[FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted]

i will say that 34/35 destiny split is a terrible choice. if you arent getting at least 2 cores in another melee tree, you are in trouble as its a lot of mp/ds. this is why I personally do not use adrenaline. its expensive, and quick cutter is in my opinion objectively better. you said you want to solo r1-4, adrenaline will not help, but quick cutter will make that easy. and quick cutter single target dps, while less, is no slouch and can definitely be useful

 

[Sheikra]

i will say that 34/35 destiny split is a terrible choice. if you arent getting at least 2 cores in another melee tree, you are in trouble as its a lot of mp/ds. this is why I personally do not use adrenaline. its expensive, and quick cutter is in my opinion objectively better. you said you want to solo r1-4, adrenaline will not help, but quick cutter will make that easy. and quick cutter single target dps, while less, is no slouch and can definitely be useful

Unfortunately, adrenaline is less the problem than the other t4. Improved trip (might be a meme but its my dream too haha), +6 DS, +2 STR/CON, and a legit source of healing. If I swapped to QC instead of adren, I would still have to spend other points in FoTW in order to get the above benefits. So it seems like I could give up 3 points, which gets like.... +5 MP +2 hit/dmg or +4 stun DC or something.

How would you rejigger the epic destinies? Missing a few points sadly, I would've loved to sink 6-12 points into Gmof or Shadowdancer.

 

[FVSHasBeenEvenMoreGutted]

Unfortunately, adrenaline is less the problem than the other t4. Improved trip (might be a meme but its my dream too haha), +6 DS, +2 STR/CON, and a legit source of healing. If I swapped to QC instead of adren, I would still have to spend other points in FoTW in order to get the above benefits. So it seems like I could give up 3 points, which gets like.... +5 MP +2 hit/dmg or +4 stun DC or something.

How would you rejigger the epic destinies? Missing a few points sadly, I would've loved to sink 6-12 points into Gmof or Shadowdancer.

you do not need anything but the healing, trust me. 2 str/con is not equal to an entire destiny core, and you can get trip dc of 160 and it always fails at cap in recent enough quests. my dragonlord got dc 150 and it was completely useless in anything past iod

 

[I dont Like gimps]

Unfortunately, adrenaline is less the problem than the other t4. Improved trip (might be a meme but its my dream too haha), +6 DS, +2 STR/CON, and a legit source of healing. If I swapped to QC instead of adren, I would still have to spend other points in FoTW in order to get the above benefits. So it seems like I could give up 3 points, which gets like.... +5 MP +2 hit/dmg or +4 stun DC or something.

How would you rejigger the epic destinies? Missing a few points sadly, I would've loved to sink 6-12 points into Gmof or Shadowdancer.

as Much as I like primal scream frankly 5-6 second winds often suffice to carry you from shrine to shrine

 

[Raedier]

I really like DL ravager, definitely possible to solo up to R6 on it, got a 2nd lifer build that does it quite comfortably.
Although the setup u are doing here is perfect for a capstone DL build with T5 in dreadnought. Try using a greataxe for quicker sunder animations and falconry for added helpless dmg, ravager + THF rly doesn’t make any sense to me.
I personally went swf for the better single target DPS and better kiting/dancing around mobs rly helps in high reaper. TWF is even better single target but without tankyness from past lives I found this to be pretty bad.

So if I gotta be honest ravager is kind of a waste on a toon witha good amount past lives cuz 20+20+15+15+15+30 helpless dmg + autocrits from dreadnought/half orc/ adren will demolish any pack in ur sight on R10 even without a fully optimized gearset and DL capstone instakill is no slouch either with a G. Axe.

The rest is looking good tho, PA for that sweet DPS, extra tumbles, nice work. Keep it going pal!

Btw I’d probably shave 8 ish points from fotw for either more DC’s/DR bypass in gmof or threat reduction/SA dice in shadowdancer.

 

[Sheikra]

I really like DL ravager, definitely possible to solo up to R6 on it, got a 2nd lifer build that does it quite comfortably.
Although the setup u are doing here is perfect for a capstone DL build with T5 in dreadnought. Try using a greataxe for quicker sunder animations and falconry for added helpless dmg, ravager + THF rly doesn’t make any sense to me.
I personally went swf for the better single target DPS and better kiting/dancing around mobs rly helps in high reaper. TWF is even better single target but without tankyness from past lives I found this to be pretty bad.

So if I gotta be honest ravager is kind of a waste on a toon witha good amount past lives cuz 20+20+15+15+15+30 helpless dmg + autocrits from dreadnought/half orc/ adren will demolish any pack in ur sight on R10 even without a fully optimized gearset and DL capstone instakill is no slouch either with a G. Axe.

The rest is looking good tho, PA for that sweet DPS, extra tumbles, nice work. Keep it going pal!

Btw I’d probably shave 8 ish points from fotw for either more DC’s/DR bypass in gmof or threat reduction/SA dice in shadowdancer.

Hey Raedier! How are you finding room for Rav capstone, DL tree, and falconry? Going T5 rav?

I might eTR after trying THF... SWF is my preferred style but I wanted to give the whole "big sword hit big number " thing an honest go

 

[Raedier]

Hey Raedier! How are you finding room for Rav capstone, DL tree, and falconry? Going T5 rav?

I might eTR after trying THF... SWF is my preferred style but I wanted to give the whole "big sword hit big number " thing an honest go

I am not. I am currently using a cha based rav 41 DL 37 swf setup on my 2nd life pdk. With a bastard sword and fotw T5 for great leveler. Fotw + dreadnought makes u very tanky I got like 200 PRR 4k hp and 30% Dodge on that toon and adrenaline + boulders might on SWF makes for a pretty interesting hit and run playstyle where you can actually avoid a lot of damage by kiting or dancing around mobs while waiting for adren/visage/roar/ great leveler to clear the way.

All I am saying if I were playing a serious build on my completionist I’d go DL 41 falconry 26 and the rest into half orc racial tree with maybe 4 points into ravager for PA. And using a greataxe because the faster sunder animation of a greataxe means you can actually use the capstone very effectively, combine it with more Strikethrough from fotw/racial/DL t1 and ur a instakilling 4ish mobs every 20 sec on top of your super crits and helpless damage CC.

Greataxe falconry DL is basically a pre u59 nerf nuker on steroids in terms of how fast you can kill stuff on R10. And you don’t even need optimized pastlives /fully minmaxed gearset or racial completionist although it does help.

Surprised I haven’t seen anyone talking about this before.

 

[kemton]

Not sure if you have tried rav 41 at cap in r10s. You have enough dmg to kill helpless mobs quickly anyways and the 6 kills per 30 secs speeds up clears. Adrenaline + BM helps spike dmg onto reapers. On my current racial life’s with wood elf I don’t even have the horc helplessness and my trash dps is still good.

I’ve done both the horc 20 dl falconry version, as well as horc dl / monk / rogue version that picks up an extra 30 percent from rogue.(this is a dodge version) having the rav capstone speeds up clears significantly.

If you want max self sufficiency I think shifter is the best race. At cap with maximized gear you are usually not lacking for dmg, only survivability. So this is either rage temp hp or dodge clickies. Both are viable.

 

[Raedier]

Not sure if you have tried rav 41 at cap in r10s. You have enough dmg to kill helpless mobs quickly anyways and the 6 kills per 30 secs speeds up clears. Adrenaline + BM helps spike dmg onto reapers. On my current racial life’s with wood elf I don’t even have the horc helplessness and my trash dps is still good.

I’ve done both the horc 20 dl falconry version, as well as horc dl / monk / rogue version that picks up an extra 30 percent from rogue.(this is a dodge version) having the rav capstone speeds up clears significantly.

If you want max self sufficiency I think shifter is the best race. At cap with maximized gear you are usually not lacking for dmg, only survivability. So this is either rage temp hp or dodge clickies. Both are viable.

Yes, I have been playing with visage on r10 for the past few months and I am enjoying it a lot! Visage completely annihilates r10 on the mobs that it actually affects, undead, vermin, constructs and a lot more are immune tho. The DL capstone affects a lot more mobs then visage does and I think anything BUT visage from the ravager tree is kinda lackluster but that is just personal opinion.
To me ravager just feels like “hey waste these 40 points to get a god tier capstone” I personally think some work should be done to ravager to maybe reduce the capstone effectiveness by a bit, maybe increasing the cooldown to 45 seconds and making the active attacks in the tree a bit stronger.
I definitely like both ravager and DL capstones tho it is just a matter of building the right way around them. DL capstone is very strong if you know how to properly use it.

 

[Raedier]

Not sure if you have tried rav 41 at cap in r10s. You have enough dmg to kill helpless mobs quickly anyways and the 6 kills per 30 secs speeds up clears. Adrenaline + BM helps spike dmg onto reapers. On my current racial life’s with wood elf I don’t even have the horc helplessness and my trash dps is still good.

I’ve done both the horc 20 dl falconry version, as well as horc dl / monk / rogue version that picks up an extra 30 percent from rogue.(this is a dodge version) having the rav capstone speeds up clears significantly.

If you want max self sufficiency I think shifter is the best race. At cap with maximized gear you are usually not lacking for dmg, only survivability. So this is either rage temp hp or dodge clickies. Both are viable.

Yes, I have been playing with visage on r10 for the past few months and I am enjoying it a lot! Visage completely annihilates r10 on the mobs that it actually affects, undead, vermin, constructs and a lot more are immune tho. The DL capstone affects a lot more mobs then visage does and I think anything BUT visage from the ravager tree is kinda lackluster but that is just personal opinion.
To me ravager just feels like “hey waste these 40 points to get a god tier capstone” I personally think some work should be done to ravager to maybe reduce the capstone effectiveness by a bit, maybe increasing the cooldown to 45 seconds and making the active attacks in the tree a bit stronger.
I definitely like both ravager and DL capstones tho it is just a matter of building the right way around them. DL capstone is very strong if you know how to properly use it.

 

[The Blonde]

Yes, I have been playing with visage on r10 for the past few months and I am enjoying it a lot! Visage completely annihilates r10 on the mobs that it actually affects, undead, vermin, constructs and a lot more are immune tho. The DL capstone affects a lot more mobs then visage does and I think anything BUT visage from the ravager tree is kinda lackluster but that is just personal opinion.
To me ravager just feels like “hey waste these 40 points to get a god tier capstone” I personally think some work should be done to ravager to maybe reduce the capstone effectiveness by a bit, maybe increasing the cooldown to 45 seconds and making the active attacks in the tree a bit stronger.
I definitely like both ravager and DL capstones tho it is just a matter of building the right way around them. DL capstone is very strong if you know how to properly use it.

Do you know if DL capstone animation is significantly faster based on weapon style?
Like TWF > SWF > THF?
And does G.Axe only have faster Sunder speed? Or Sunder Soul as well (compared to other THF)?

 

[Raedier]

Do you know if DL capstone animation is significantly faster based on weapon style?
Like TWF > SWF > THF?
And does G.Axe only have faster Sunder speed? Or Sunder Soul as well (compared to other THF)?

The only weapon I would consider using DL capstone with is G axe.

All the other weapon animations are terribly slow or without strikethrough.

 

[The Blonde]

The only weapon I would consider using DL capstone with is G axe.

All the other weapon animations are terribly slow or without strikethrough.

Sure, but are we talking about the Sunder animation or the Sunder Soul animation?

 

[Raedier]

Sure, but are we talking about the Sunder animation or the Sunder Soul animation?

Sunder soul, legendary rally and sunder (and probably also improved sunder but I haven’t tested) all use the same attack animation.
Mauls and greataxes benefit from the faster animation style while greatsword and falchion animations are kinda sucky.
IMO the SWF animations (wich should be the same for all weapon types) is also kinda sucky. Then ur just left with TWF but TWF does not strikethrough so hardly benefits from the DL capstone in terms of instakilling.